North Stars fall to Terriers despite dogged effort

The Stars’ captain’s heady play elicited an immediate mad scramble, as both teams funnelled their way in towards the net. What ensued next was absolute mayhem.

Like lunch hour in Times Square, there were bodies and traffic everywhere going every which way. Stars’ power forward Regan Doig located the puck, taking a swipe, and getting a piece but not much. Suddenly Austin Becker caught a momentary glimpse of the puck. For only but an instant, it was almost as if the frozen piece of rubber was a shiny coin, a prized treasure unwittingly lying in wait for Becker to reach out and grab it, and he did.

Milliseconds later, the Amery, Wisconsin native was embraced by teammates celebrating in front of the roaring crowd. He had got his penny and stashed the elusive prize passed the sprawling netminder; depositing it into safekeeping within the twine.

The first period ended 1-0 North Stars.

Yorkton’s prized offence would respond, however, in the second frame, thanks to Aiden Bulych’s fifth goal of the year.

As if that wasn’t enough, only about a minute and a half later Cody Bruchkowski would follow his teammate’s lead and tally one more for good measure. Just like that, it was the Stars trailing the game in the second.

That is when the North Stars’ prowess on the man-advantage would come to the forefront.

Just passed the midway point of the second, with the Stars on the power play, Matthew Fletcher would relay the puck to Ryan Gil on the right-side boards. Gil, a left-hand shot, receiving the handoff high in the zone, then walked the puck back into the middle of the ice and proceeded to do his impersonation of the great David Blaine – and work some magic.

Freezing the defender up high in the zone after looking off the shot, Gil, without hesitation, wired a pass through the sliver of daylight available just off to the side of the far post. Upon arrival, the puck was then slapped home by Elijah Loon-Stewardson.

Unfortunately for the North Stars’ faithful in attendance, a celebration of Loon-Stewardson’s tally would be short-lived, as less than a half-minute later, it would be followed by a Terriers’ response, thanks to Branden Klatt.

The two sides would continue to jockey for the lead after MacGregor Sinclair levelled the score for his club once again to end the second.

Despite pulling ahead for a short time in the third period, courtesy of a Braydon Buziak rush chance that very-likely resulted in Elijah Loon-Stewardson’s second goal of the night, judging by his reaction after the puck was put home; the North Stars would eventually witness the Terriers storm back with a vengeance to score three straight including an empty-netter to salt the game away.

The Stars will now get some time off to regroup before getting back into action, hoping to return to the win column Wednesday night against La Ronge at home. Pregame on Wednesday’s matchup will get underway at 7:15 p.m. with puck drop to follow at 7:30 p.m.

Scoring summary

First period:

10:50 BAT Austin Becker (2) ASST: Regan Doig (6), Cody Spagrud (7)

Second period:

6:10 YOR Aiden Bulych (5) ASST: Branden Klatt (9), J. Legien (11)

7:41 YOR Cody Bruchkowski (4) ASST: Chantz Petruic (3), Karstin McDonald (2)

11:02 BAT Elijah Loon-Stewardson (3) ASST: Ryan Gil (7), Matthew Fletcher (2)

11:23 YOR Branden Klatt (6) ASST: Aiden Bulych (12), Jared Legien (12)

12:29 BAT MacGregor Sinclair (6) ASST: Austin Becker (1)

Third period:

10:36 BAT Elijah Loon-Stewardson (4) ASST: Braydon Buziak (4)

11:01 YOR Quinten Hobbs (1) ASST: Dino Antoniadis (1), Mason Mullaney (1)

12:45 YOR Tyson Janzen (2) ASST: Colby Brandt (8), Chantz Petruic (4)

19:48 YOR Chantz Petruic (8) ASST: Brendan Mark (11) (EN)

Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: MartyMartyPxP1

by Martin Martinson

North Stars fall to Terriers despite dogged effort

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